


Former Roommates, Travel Edition

by Januarium



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Businessmen, Domestic Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Makeup, POV Patrick Brewer, Platonic Bedsharing, Post-Canon, Ray's Businesses, THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED, attending a conference together, background Patrick/David, but in a friendship way, really should be a tag, slumber party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:53:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28775637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Januarium/pseuds/Januarium
Summary: “Oh crap, sorry Ray. I must have been working on autopilot and booked us one bed instead of two. I can go and see if they can move us.”Ray laughs, shaking his head slightly patronisingly. “You really think they’ll have any spare rooms the weekend of the IRBOSCM?” He pronounces the conference acronym like a word, ‘ir-bos-cum’. “Feel free to ask, but I can cope with sharing for a night. It will be like a slumber party!”Patrick can’t help but smile, just a little, his growing bad mood at realising he’d made a mistake swept away in the face of Ray’s optimism. “Okay, okay, but no hanky panky. I am a married man after all.” He wags a finger at Ray teasingly, aware he’s wearing the the grin he gets every time he finds a way to reference his marital status, even almost a year on.“Mm, yes, you might have mentioned that a time or two.” Ray’s eyes sparkle like they do when he’s teasing—something plenty of people don’t even realise he’s doing, because he’s just as boisterous as ever. “I’m sure I can find some way to resist you for a night.”Patrick and Ray go to a conference and have a hotel slumber party.
Relationships: Patrick Brewer & Ray Butani
Comments: 35
Kudos: 65
Collections: platonic slumber party of platonic slumber parties





	Former Roommates, Travel Edition

**Author's Note:**

> For [another_Hero](https://archiveofourown.org/users/another_Hero/pseuds/another_Hero)'s platonic slumber party of platonic slumber parties fest! I hope this fits the bill and is enjoyed.
> 
> Thanks to singsongsung for helping with Canada stuff and doingthemost for helping with business stuff and this-is-not-nothing for the title!

**Part 1:** Road trip

Patrick lets Ray choose the playlist for the two hour drive to Thornbridge Suites for the Innovations in Rural Business Operations & Supply Chain Management conference. It’s definitely not long enough to be classed as a road trip, but Ray has excitedly been telling anyone who will listen that it is one, and _clearly_ that requires a curated music selection.

Ray mostly has excellent taste in music, so it’s a great playlist, if a bit heavy on the Engelbert Humperdink for Patrick’s taste. He also brings great road trip snacks. Patrick’s almost sad the journey isn’t longer, because driving down the highway loudly singing along to Defying Gravity and eating Ray’s home-made fruit leather is a ridiculous amount of fun.

**Part 2** : Accommodation

Check in goes smoothly and it’s only when they get to the room itself that Patrick realises that there’s a mistake. He’s all pumped up to go back to the lobby and tell them to fix it, bringing up the booking email to use as evidence, when he actually reads the email and realises that _it's his fault_.

“Oh crap, I'm sorry Ray. I must have been working on autopilot and booked us one bed instead of two. I'll go and see if they can move us.”

Ray laughs, shaking his head slightly patronisingly. “You really think they’ll have any spare rooms the weekend of the IRBOSCM?” He pronounces the conference acronym like a word, ‘ir-bos-cum’. “Feel free to ask, but I can cope with sharing for a night. It will be like a slumber party!”

Patrick can’t help but smile, just a little, his growing bad mood at realising he’d made a mistake swept away in the face of Ray’s optimism. “Okay, okay, but no hanky panky. I am a married man after all.” He wags a finger at Ray teasingly, aware he’s wearing the the grin he gets every time he finds a way to reference his marital status, even almost a year on.

“Mm, yes, you might have mentioned that a time or two.” Ray’s eyes sparkle like they do when he’s teasing—something plenty of people don’t even realise he’s doing, because he’s just as boisterous as ever. “I’m sure I can find some way to resist you for a night.”

Patrick laughs, so glad to be getting a chance to spend some time with Ray. It’s been far too long.

**Part 3:** Food

There’s some buffet food as part of the conference—which Patrick makes sure to get lots of pictures of to send to David—but nothing substantial. Ray and Patrick both get distracted talking to one of the speakers about their talk on rural supply chains, meaning the hotel restaurant is packed by the time they make it over. Room service it is.

Much as Patrick thrives in social situations, it’s nice to have a break from the intensity of the conference. They decide on each getting soup, and then splitting the vegetarian lasagna and the smoked salmon salad. Patrick is well aware that Ray will always want to try whatever entrée he orders, so it works better if they just plan to share from the beginning. It’s nice, actually, because David is strictly against sharing his main course.

“So, tell me about this new business plan?” Patrick asks once their order is in.

Ray’s been unusually reticent in revealing his latest planned side-hustle, but he’d referenced something being in the works—which it always was—when talking to the speaker. “Well, you know I’ve been been getting into beauty Youtube?”

Patrick nods, because he has managed to learn a spectacular amount about the feuds between online makeup artists since Ray and Stevie had both gotten obsessed with those people. Stevie is very clear she’s just in it for the drama, but he knows Ray has been practicing his skills.

“I’m thinking of starting a beauty pop-up in Schitt’s Creek!” The tone is almost right, that typical Ray enthusiasm, but it’s lacking some of his usual certainty.

“That’s a great idea! What sort of thing are you planning on doing?”

There’s a knock on the door at that point, so the conversation stops for a moment while the food comes in. Once they’re both set up at the little table with their bowls of soup, Patrick asks again. “Tell me more about the beauty pop-up!”

Ray explains that he’ll offer glam makeup looks and coach people through what he’s doing as he works. Obviously, this will be tied into photography packages to memorialise the makeovers. He’s still unusually shy, but obviously excited.

They go through some more ideas and details and by the time they’re done with the food Ray’s smile is back at full wattage.

**Part 4:** Entertainment

Ray heads down to the evening networking events and Patrick uses the brief bit of privacy to call David, who is busy getting cross-faded with Stevie. It’s the first night they’re spending apart since they got married and it surprises Patrick how odd that feels, considering they didn't even officially moved in together until the wedding. He’s glad they’re both with good friends though, it would be even stranger alone.

The networking is fun for a couple of hours, until people go from ‘tipsy’ to ‘drunk’ and it becomes decidedly more boring for people staying sober. Ray doesn’t drink, and Patrick has enough experience being DD to know how boring being the lone sober person is, so decided to match him. Besides which, if he gets drunk he’s likely to start telling anyone who will listen about how amazing his husband is which, while true, probably isn’t actually an effective networking technique.

Ray seems torn when Patrick suggests they call it a night relatively early, but then an argument breaking out and Patrick promising to let Ray choose the film combine to make him agree. They settle on Miss Congeniality on the way up and it doesn’t take long for them to both be sitting on the bed watching it.

When they get to the makeover scene, Patrick nudges Ray. “So, is this what you’re planning to do to people?” On the TV screen, an intense array of beauticians do their work to turn Gracie Hart into Gracie Lou Freebush.

Ray laughs. “I think perhaps my setup will be just a _tad_ simpler.”

Patrick can’t help but prod, as Ray is only a nine on the perky scale. Sandra Bullock and discussing a new business should put him on at _least_ an eleven. “Hey, is there something wrong? Even if it’s silly, you know I’m an expert at listening to people complain by now.”

Ray shakes his head, but smiles. “That’s very nice of you, Patrick. I guess I’m just wondering if people would really want _me_ to do their makeup for them.”

Patrick has seen Ray embark on so many different businesses—some with incredibly low uptake—without losing his confidence. This sort of self-doubt is deeply disconcerting, which is definitely why Patrick says what he says next. “I’d _love_ for you to do my makeup, Ray.”

Ray instantly perks up, eyes sparkling and hands clasping together. “You would? Because I may have brought some things, just in case.”

That… probably should have been expected, but Patrick was definitely anticipating the makeover being at some vague point in the future, with David getting veto rights over the colour story. Which might actually be a good reason for it to be now, actually. “Okay, let’s do it.”

Ray bounces off the bed and gets out an impressive case from his suitcase, opening it to reveal a wide array of makeup. He starts picking things out and after the fifth product appears Patrick decides he’s better off paying attention to the film until it's all ready.

Patrick has worn makeup before, but only really in a stage context. Having his makeup done just for fun, right before he’ll need to take it off again to go to sleep feels… pretty exciting, actually. It’s the sort of playing around with presentation that David tells stories of having tried in high school and college, in a way Patrick never has. It’s almost decadent, if he weren’t doing it to support a friend.

Once Ray has everything ready they bicker over who gets to be facing the film. Patrick wins, pointing out he doesn’t want Ray distracted watching it over his shoulder. They’ve both seen the film enough times to know it by heart, anyway.

Ray talks through what he’s doing as he works and even when it’s blunt—“I actually special ordered this foundation because you’re so pale they don’t stock your shade as standard”—it’s strangely soothing. He trusts Ray, has seen how deeply he researches things when he discovers a new interest. Patrick may not love the look of the final result but he trusts Ray not to hurt him, or attempt to embarrass him. There isn’t any pressure, because it’s not as though anyone else is even here to see it. Besides, Ray’s wedding photos and video far exceeded his and David’s expectations, so it could turn out to be amazing.

Patrick has never had makeup be such an involved process before, even his look when playing the Emcee didn’t seem to involve so many stages. It reminds him of watching David perform his full nine-step skincare routine, methodical and practiced. He holds still, moving parts of his face as instructed, vaguely following the film still on in the background.

Eventually, Ray pulls back. His eyes go intense for a moment as he looks Patrick over and then he absolutely _beams._ “Okay, Patrick, you can go over to the mirror now.”

Patrick goes to the en suite, for the better mirror and to hopefully get a chance to school his expression if he doesn’t like it. He doesn’t get much of a moment, because of course Ray followed him, but nor does he need it. It’s strange, to see his own face looking so different, but it’s also… exciting. Ray has managed to transform Patrick’s soft features into something striking—a word often used for his husband, sure, but not for him. He can’t stop staring.

“So, what do you think?” It’s impressive that Ray waited even a few seconds to ask, so Patrick pulls himself together.

“It’s incredible, Ray. You’re _really_ good at this.”

Ray tilts his head shyly and waves away the praise, but his smile is brilliant.

After allowing Ray to take some photos—with the provision that Patrick gets to decide which, if any, can be used for promotion—they watch the thrilling finale of the film. It’s fun, sitting on the bed with a full face of makeup for no particular reason, watching a film that they've seen together many times before.

Once it’s done, they take turns in the bathroom. Patrick asks to go second and doesn't say it's because he wants to keep the makeup on just a bit longer. Once Ray's done he offers to remove Patrick’s make up for him, but he figures he can do that himself. Alone in the bathroom, Patrick takes a few pictures of the makeup and allows himself a bit of time to just look at himself, without being observed, before he takes it off. He considers sharing the pictures with David now, but he wants to hold on for them so he can watch his husband's reaction in person.

He uses Ray's makeup remover first and, though he hadn't noticed its weight, his skin feels light with the makeup gone. David had made sure Patrick packed the products for his three-step skincare routine, which he follows up with. It's odd how something he does every day feels just a bit different now. It’s nice.

**Part 5:** Sleep (or not)

Ray’s already in bed when Patrick is done, reading Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business, which Patrick had loaned him after finishing it himself. Patrick sorts out his phone on the charger and water on his bedside table and climbs in on his side. Ray keeps reading and Patrick texts with David for a bit and it takes him back to living together, much as they never shared a bed then. Spending time with Ray without chatter wasn’t very common and is certainly something he hasn’t had since moving out, but there were moments.

Of course, as soon as Patrick thinks this Ray squeaks read something out from his book, but it’s actually really interesting and they get into a discussion of the value of implementing the system. It’s only the buzz from Patrick’s phone of David saying goodnight with a selfie of him and Stevie in bed together—his face annoyed-but-fond, hers pulled into an exaggerated sexy look—that makes him realise that he should probably try to sleep.

He shows Ray the selfie to suggest they take one, which of course leads to five minutes of Ray fretting about lighting and posing before they take one he deems acceptable—“as much as a selfie even can be, people truly underestimate the power of photography with real cameras these days!”—and send it off.

Once they’re settled into bed in the dark of the night they’re quiet again for a moment. Patrick’s thrown back to vacations where he would share a room with his cousins, no one yet asleep and wondering who would be the one to break the silence.

It is, of course, Ray who does so, but with even more of a note of uncertainty than earlier, this one not hidden behind his usual bluster. “You really think I could do this?”

Patrick smiles into the dark of their room. “Ray? I know you can. Obviously I’d need to talk to David, but I was even thinking maybe we could do a partnership with you using some of our products.” That’s a major thing to say; David is incredibly particular about who they partner with and they’ve denied many (many) requests from Ray for previous ventures—that they wouldn’t stock his christmas ornaments had caused the closest thing to an argument that Patrick and Ray even had. But he feels confident about this, after looking at himself in the mirror earlier and how it made him feel. He knows that David will agree.

“Really?” Ray’s voice hold shock and gratitude, but it quickly turns to his usual tone. “In that case, I had been considering your store's range of foundation. I appreciate that you have been stocking some for darker skin tones, but really you need to think about more nuance in them, not everyone with brown skin has the same undertones!”

Patrick laughs, just a little, because of course Ray’s already thought this through. “We can definitely talk about that more tomorrow, so I can know what to bring to Mindy, who makes them, when we approach her about it.”

“Of course, of course.” There’s a brief pause, and then—“But we should also make sure we discuss the level of pigmentation in that pastel eyeshadow you stock.”

Patrick shakes his head, but gives in to talking about the makeup they stock at Rose Apothecary for the next hour. Sure, he’ll be a bit tired for the morning session tomorrow, but clearly he’s doing something more important now anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, I'm on [tumblr](januarium.tumblr.com)


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